A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

Chapter 130: Whispering Grotto (Part-1)

Xuelong had a huge smile on her face as she gave Amellantha a back-breaking hug as she spoke, "Granny Ame it is so nice to see you."

Amellantha returned the hug as she spoke, "It is good to see Your Holiness."

As Xuelong let go of Amelantha, Amelantha once again found herself being hugged to death by another apostle who was none other than Ylerias.

Michalina looked at the scene with her barely concealed curiosity, and to satiate it Michalina approached Dasyra who was nearby as she spoke, "Hey Dasyra may I ask you something?"

Dasyra gave her a nod of approval as Michalina continued, "Who is this 'Granny Ame' person?"

Dasyra had a large smile on her face as she spoke, "Amellantha used to be companion of an Apostle during her youth, 'The Invincible Axe' was her moniker one of the strongest companion even strong enough to go against Apostles and win during her prime, we all look up to her, and both Holinesses look up to her as if she is their grandmother, well you can say most Apostles."

"I see."

Back with Amellantha, she was insanely pleased upon seeing Xuelong and Ylerias together as she spoke, "I am so happy to see that you are safe and sound, though from seeing the strange vehicle you two are riding it must have been done by His Holiness Ryuu?"

Both Ylerias and Xuelong's eyes widen as they looked at each other as Ylerias spoke with a look of concern on her face, "Do you know where he is? He suddenly left the base without telling anyone about his whereabouts and he is missing."

Amellantha frowned as she spoke, "Yes he was here yesterday but left very early in the morning, he has gone after 'Whispering Grotto'."

Xuelong's eyes widen as she spoke, "Ah I remember before the merger of the world took place that place was run over by Trolls and I ventured out towards that place after meeting you, but since the merger took place I have been busy and as such I never had the time to take a look."

Amellantha's face fell as she spoke, "Now it is occupied by undead trolls, we offered His Highness our help but he vehemently refused going as far as making use his authority to stop us."

Both Ylerias and Xuelong frowned upon hearing that as Ylerias spoke, "Granny Ame what was he doing there?"

"His Holiness has informed us that His God has given Him a task."

Ylerias pinched the bridge of her nose as she spoke, "Of course something like that was bound to happen."

Seeing the expression on both their faces Amellantha knew something was wrong as such she quickly spoke barely above a whisper, "Is this something that you can say in front of others."

Ylerias shook her head as she spoke, "No I would prefer if it was done in private setting, though what do you think about Him?"

Amellantha gave a small smile as she spoke, "He is good kid who is calling me 'Granny Ame' from the beginning."

Xuelong rolled her eyes as she spoke with a small smile, "Anyone who is calling you 'Granny Ame', is a good person in your own books."

Amellantha laughed out in good humour before she spoke in a serious tone, "But what are you going to do about Him."

Xuelong frowned as she spoke, "He may forbid you but he cannot do so with us as such one of us will venture forth."

Ylerias gave a hesitating nod as she spoke, "We can go there but we should not interact with him until and unless he initiates it and definitely we should avoid entering the grotto itself, after all the last thing we want is for him to get punished."

As Xuelong nodded at his words Amellantha's curiosity began to grow at an impeccable rate, but she managed to control herself as certain things cannot be said out loud in the open.

Meanwhile, Ryan looked at the target with a pensive look on his face, 'So this is the 'Whispering Grotto', and now I will have to transverse to the deepest part of the grotto, ugh, I hate my life.'

Aiming at his enemy Ryan pulled the trigger as the first bullet struck the undead troll killing it, he did not stop there as in quick succession he quickly dispatched the remaining five trolls that were present outside with one of them bursting into a ball of fire which spread out and consumed the other bodies effectively disposing of them.

'The only good thing in all this is that if I kill something than it would stay dead and not evolve into something even more vile.'

Ryan slowly and cautiously moved near the entrance while keeping mind of his surroundings, he had discarded the ghillie suit and was wearing a dark tactical combat dress fit which was suitable for some spec-ops units, with his mask firmly attached to his to prevent him from inhaling anything dangerous.

It took a couple of minutes for Ryan's eyes to adjust and he could easily see clearly even the darkest corner of the room very easily.

'I should probably use my pistol the last thing that I want is the park from my rifle causing some form of explosion causing a cave in.'

With his pistol held firmly in his hand Ryan slowly advanced at a steady yet cautious pace while being ready to unleash hell on his enemies.

Ryan took a couple of steps only to slip but the timely action of catching a rock prevent his nasty fall, but it did nothing to stop his mood to plummet even further.

'Great just great, sometime ago the water might have flowed in and the temperature drop caused the floor to freeze.'

He swiped his hand over his shoes which now possessed traction cleat, and he then proceeded to add a few runes to prevent noise to be heard from the dent it would make on the ice only to stop as a thought came to his mind.

'What if I add runes and then I step on trap, the sound of myself stepping on something would not come to my ears and I am not yet that good enough with runes to create something that would enable only for me to hear, not to mention at the end of the day the higher I go up in my understanding about Runes, the difficulty of applying coding principle on them increases exponentially.'

With a soft crunch under his footsteps Ryan began to travel deep into the Grotto and as he pressed forward the path inside the grotto became steeper than he would have liked but even then he pressed forward.

A small growl came to Ryan's ears which were soon followed by large grunts and moans, and as soon as Ryan took the next turn he came face to face with the group of four trolls feasting on a fifth, a scene he was extremely familiar with.

Suddenly one of the grunted as it twitched and convulsed and Ryan could see it changing, evolving into something else but he did not wish to face something more evolved as such he dashed forward cutting the head off the first troll and then aiming and pulling the trigger of his pistol, and with each pull of the trigger it gave three successive short bursts that tore the head of the other creatures.

"Banish Greater Undead"

His hand a soft golden glow as a faint foot long wide circular golden runic array formed, the runic array had various words written on them, which according to Ylerias was the runic formula that made the spell work, something that Ryan was finally able to see ever since he had crossed the twenty fifty mark.

Normally Ryan would have used the spell on the creatures instead of attacking but he would have missed some, then he would have to fight a battle which he did not wish to so he simply took the assassination route.

'The level gap between us and them is not to big but if I had used the spell I would have gotten at best two of them because the area of effect is low, but then I would have to use much more power to subdue the animated undead than I had to use on the 'dead' undead, not to mention if I imbue my weapon with the spell I will have a constant drain on my mana, ugh I have to grind the skill and get it to much higher level.'

The rest of the grotto was a blur to Ryan as he fought various undead creatures and as he went deeper and deeper the creatures had mutated to the point that they bore no resemblance to that of trolls.

Ryan squeezed through in between a very narrow part of the wall as he found himself inside a slightly larger space, but as he looked around he found himself inside a large cavern, a cavern that seemed to be covered by white spider webs.

'Great just great, I just stumbled upon the lair of some kind of undead spider.'

Ryan suddenly felt the hair on his neck stand up as he jumped hard towards the left while the place where he was standing was now occupied by a strange creature.

'Huh what kind of creature is this, it looks kind of like an Arachne but with a torso of a headless troll, a troll whose hands look like eyeless head of an wolf, just what kind of bizarre creatures am I facing now a days, but why is it spider? Why is it always a spider? Is it because I have a slight arachnophobia? I hate spiders.'

As Ryan was busy studying his opponent, the creature opened his multiple eyes on the chest of the torso while the stomach of the troll part of its body opened up showing a set of extra-large teeth with grisly tentacle inside it, the drool of the creature dropped on the spider silk-covered ground as it burned it through like acid, before it let loose a guttural roar.

As the roar hit Ryan he winced when all of a sudden his vision began to swim as the world suddenly began to distort around him.

'Huh, what is', it did not take him much time to put two and two and make four as he perfectly understood the reason, 'Damn that thrice damned creature using some kind of sound based attack on me.'

A quick application of a certain rune took off his hearing just in time for him to dodge the large maw of the wolf head with its putrid drooling tongue lolling out as drool dripped from him, but he was not fast enough for some of the drool to not hit near his thigh as his combat outfit let out a sizzling sound and smoke.

Meanwhile back on top, Xuelong had arrived along with Ciara near the entrance of the Grotto, as one of the scouts that had arrived earlier quickly approached them as she spoke, "Your Holiness, we found signature of His Holiness's magic near the entrance, the ash is from the enemy that had been burned down by fire created from his magic."

Xuelong gave a nod as she spoke with a tired sigh, "I see all we have to camp up here and wait."

Ciara could not help but gain a frown on her face upon hearing her words but all she could do was to helplessly wait for Ryan to return.

"Your Holiness may I ask you a question?"

As Xuelong nodded towards Ciara spoke, "Your Holiness what is this 'Whispering Grotto' place?"

"A long time ago, and by long I mean a few thousand years ago, there was huge battle between the living and the dead, it was so vicious that it is said our world came to an end under the relentless attack of the dead, but then a person, a Hero saved our world at the cost of his life, and Whispering Grotto is the resting place of the person."

Ciara frowned as she spoke, "I thought you all burn your death."

Xuelong gave a nod as she spoke, "Of course we do, but this resting places are mostly for the rich, aristocrat or those who have done something great, their belongings and their ashes are kept in crept, the Hero's ashes are there inside the grotto but it has been so long that even his name has been forgotten because of the ravages of time, except the fact that he was the first and the last Apostle for the Goddess of Death."

Ciara's frown deepened as she spoke, "I see."

Ciara did not say it out loud but her mind was running a thousand miles a minute as she analyzed the information she had received and came to the startling conclusion, 'Did that God sent my son here to gather something that belonged to the Apostle of Goddess of Death?'

A small cry drew their attention as black smoke seemed to rise from inside the grotto, as Ciara felt a cold shiver travel down her spine, and as they all dashed near the entrance a sudden gust of exceptionally chilly wind, that suddenly appeared from inside the Grotto, made them take a step back as Ciara's anxiety reached its zenith.